Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery (Wycliffe Series) [Mass Market Paperback]

W. J. Burley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2008 | Series: Wycliffe Series

Cochran Wilder disappeared 15 years ago while on a walking holiday in Cornwall. Recently released from a psychiatric hospital after being convicted of indecent assault, he had been a serious embarrassment to his father, a prominent MP. Now his body has been found buried in the dunes and it is clear that he was murdered. Detective Superintendent Wycliffe suspects the involvement of six people, now well-established figures in the community, who at the time had been spending an illicit weekend at a chalet in the area. All are disturbed by Wycliffe's interest and by a series of threatening anonymous communications. But when a second murder is committed, the investigation takes on a whole new urgency.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fifteen years ago at an English seaside cottage, six teenagers relished a secret weekend lark until something terrible happened, something they've never revealed. Now a coastal storm has exhumed a long-dead body from the dunes, and Detective Chief Superintendent Charles Wycliffe, appearing in his 15th procedural (after Wycliffe and the Last Rites ), launches his savvy team in pursuit of answers. Still living in charming St. Ives are the original six. Two of the girls are housewives, the other owns a health shop; the boys are now a respected doctor, a gauche real estate agent and a randy artist. None seems to have fulfilled his or her early promise. In the mail Wycliffe receives a photo that may incriminate one of the six; a rich old eccentric, the uncle of another one of the group is murdered; then yet another of the group disappears. After a solid, if not terribly exciting outing, Wycliffe finally reconstructs events and brings charges against a modern-day murderer.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Chief Superintendent Charles Wycliffe (Wycliffe and the Last Rites, 1993, etc.) investigates the 15-year-old death of Cochran Wilder, black-sheep son of a member of Parliament, whose skeletonized body has been uncovered in the sand dunes of a Cornwall beach by a violent storm. Six teenagers spent an unauthorized weekend at a nearby beach house when Wilder disappeared; now in their 30s, all still living in the St. Ives area, they're questioned at length by Wycliffe and sidekick Kersey. After the corpse's discovery hits the news, some members of the group--and, strangely enough, the police--receive an anonymous, vaguely threatening postcard. A suicide and a murder (of reclusive eccentric Henry Badger, uncle of one of the weekenders) add up to tough going for Wycliffe, whose intuitive powers are at low ebb in this outing. Intriguing at the outset, the story begins to sag as the author struggles to integrate the old killing and the new, and to animate his rather dreary characters. A workmanlike but drab and sometimes clumsy addition to Burley's series of procedurals in the British tradition. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Orion Publishing (April 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 075288185X
• ISBN-13: 978-0752881850
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 4.5 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,317,460 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars another good Wycliffe story, January 2, 2010

By 

Jules Jones "sf and romance author" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wycliffe and the Dunes Mystery (Wycliffe Series) (Mass Market Paperback)

Fifteen years ago, the son of a prominent MP disappeared whilst on a coastal walking holiday after his release from a psychiatric hospital. The police had assumed suicide. Now his body has been found buried in the sand dunes, and it's clear his father was right all along -- the young man had been murdered.

A flashback prologue makes it clear to the reader from the start that a group of six teenagers having an illicit weekend were the last people to see Cochrane Wilder alive. The fun in the first half of the book is watching Wycliffe's team slowly piece together the clues that lead them to first one member, then the whole group. But knowing that one or more of the group was almost certainly responsible for Cochran Wilder's death and burial isn't the same thing as being able to prove who did it and why -- not when all six also have relatively innocent reasons for hiding their involvement in that weekend. And then a second murder is committed, making this more than just a cold case to be patiently unravelled...

As usual, a nicely constructed police procedural where the emphasis is on the characters and how they behave. Much of the appeal in this one is in initially knowing a little more information than Wycliffe does, and so being anticipating how the plot will develop -- the amount of extra information you get is nicely played to provide a good balance between the enjoyment of working it out and the enjoyment of being surprised by other developments. I enjoy that style of procedural, so I liked this one a lot.